Fulfilling My Dreams of Independence

By Adeeba Sultana, NASSCOM Cyber Security graduate

Through NortonLifeLock’s partnership with the NASSCOM Foundation, we launched the Cyber Security Skills Development Initiative for Women. This program is designed to create greater employability opportunities for underprivileged female engineering graduates by equipping women with the right job skills. Today’s guest post is by Adeeba Sultana, a NASSCOM Cyber graduate and current network Analyst at HCL Technologies, Bangalore.

We don’t see a lot of women in IT companies in India, and many women in India remain financially dependent on parents and families throughout their lives. That wasn’t good enough for me and I was proud to be an engineering graduate in June of 2018, determined to break into the IT sector. I unfortunately had to take a break from my studies to look after my grandfather in Dubai when he became ill.

While looking for a job in 2019, I came across the NASSCOM Cyber Security course on Instagram. I knew it was an opportunity that I should grab immediately. It was a chance to enter the IT sector, earn independence, and fulfill my dreams of working for one of the top companies in the country.

I already had a basic knowledge of JAVA and was interested to learn about Cyber Security. The NASSCOM training gave us in-depth cyber knowledge and all of the coursework was immensely valuable. I never expected the level of faculty support we received: helping us find jobs, preparing us for interviews, and training us for the ACTI test, a requirement to get a job in the IT field in India.

The NASSCOM training helped get me job-ready and built my confidence in what I am able to do. It helped me carve out a career path I am excited about. Specifically, they placed me at HCL Technologies, one of the top companies in India. I have a few friends from the course who have been placed at HCL with me, and we all couldn’t be happier working here. The work is challenging, fulfilling, and most importantly, something at which I can excel. While many people are losing their jobs and faced with job insecurity due to COVID-19, getting a job at HCL has been really life changing for me.

It is so important for women to take up a course like this because of the ample number of cyber security opportunities in India, and I’ve been recommending the training to all of my friends and relatives. I knew I was capable of having a successful career in IT and the Cyber Security Skills Development Initiative for Women helped open new doors for me.

NortonLifeLock made it possible for me to gain employment and financial independence, something that was only a dream a few years ago. This program allowed me a chance to succeed, making a life for myself in a way that I wasn’t sure was possible. A life that I am now solely responsible for.

NortonLifeLock partners with training and education focused nonprofits to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities working in technology. The Cyber Security Skills Development Initiative was conducted in Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune, India in January and February of this year. The initiative trained 121 women and 109 women, including Adeeba, also secured the Certified Ethical Hacker certification. To date, 11 women from the program have been placed into jobs.